Hi gang,

For this  group to flourish we need to get active in some ways.

Sadly, not many people have chosen to join the list but that does not
mean they are not interested.

So we need some ideas to get people interested and helping with the group.

On the plus side we have a nice web site and we get top google for
"humanism and vegetarian" type searches and we are getting some exposure
in the Vegan Magazine. The editor of The Vegan is a humanist and we can
take advantage of that. Does any one else have any contacts we can use?

My article in The Vegan, "Nature tells you nothing about veganism",
seems to have been well received by those I spoken to (bar one letter
for a very confused individual).

* We need more content for the web site, be it news or articles. We can
reuse these articles in paper publications to raise the group's profile.
So ideas for articles wanted and of course writers.

* If we organise a meeting then perhaps we can get to know each other
and induce others along. So where should that me?

Sophie & I are in Reading.

* Chris and I written a loose mission statement on the web site - how
are we going to do want the group is there for? Perhaps we should set
the group some goals.

* We need to get together some printed literature to hand out if we ever
have presence at either a veggie or humanist meeting. We can create
these or does any one know of material we can "borrow". I know Viva had
some ritual slaughter leaflets some years back.

Well, that's my 2p.

Stephen has floated some ideas on how we can get more involvement and
contributions from HVG members now we have set up the website and forum,
both of which have been well received.

To begin with I would like to ask how you would like to see this eGroup
used?  As I see it, to clarify the purpose of the different  means of
communication  we are now using we have:

_the website_ as the main way of presenting ourselves to the world  
----  I am told it gives an excellent impression

_the ThinkHumanism  forum_ mainly for discussing issues with anyone who
is interested,  whether  HVG member, veggie or not;  and for providing
information / advice to people who ask for it   ----- which is working
well I think

_the Newsletter_ I send out which ensures I can communicate directly
with members / supporters (including, now, those not on the internet)

_this new eGroup_ which unlike the forum is intended to be an internal /
private (not secret) means of  discussing matters of internal concern to
HVG such as how to develop further, recruit new members, provide
services and activities people want, get more input for the website and
forum,  and make some of the necessary arrangements

An example of the last point would be arrangements for local meetups and
meetings.  This is not going to be straightforward.  At the moment we
have approaching 40 members scattered across the UK from Scotland to the
Channel islands, plus one in America.  Only a handful have indicated
where they live.  It is possible that only a few members actually want
to meet up.  In terms of numbers and known locations at the moment
London area and Devon could be areas where a small gathering might be
organised.  I am starting to think of ways it could be done and have it
in mind as a target development for the New Year.  Among the
possibilities are

Arrangements to meet up at / take part in activities of other
organisations,  Humanist, Vegetarian / Vegan or whatever.  For example,
is anyone else going to be at the BHA Group Representatives Annual
Meeting in London on 3 November, where I will be giving a short account
of HVG?

Organising a meeting ourselves or jointly with another Group(s) such as
the Humanist Science Group   ------  there may be some way we can join
in with other local Humanist and Veggie Groups?

Individuals making informal arrangements to meet up, perhaps with the
help of this egroup

Other ideas?

Well, that is enough ideas from me to be going on with     -----   for
the present!

Chris

Hello Chris

Thanks for clarifying things re the eGroup.

The HSS and Perth branch of the HSS used to have a Google system but they
have decided to put another forum on the website because the problem with
the Google group was that if the convenor put out some information that was
very interesting it was just too tempting not to hit the reply button which
meant others on the group also got interested and hit the reply button and
this led to stacking which I didn't mind myself but was very awkward for the
Google group master who was based somewhere in HSS and the one who was
webmaster.  I think I have explained this reasonably correctly.

So now I know that the Vegetarian Goggle group is to be internal for
business I will need to adjust my thinking a bit.

I suppose it may be an idea to have some sort of conference equidistant from
Scotland, Wales and England of course that does rather leave out America.
Also I can't see me travelling to England. maybe we could look at what
people's personal circumstances are and maybe if some of the English can
travel then we could have a conference in Scotland.  But its a bit
ambitious.  We could have stands at various places I suppose.  In Edinburgh
there was a Festival of Spirituality and Peace and HSS had a stall there.
What could happen is that if a member of the vegetarian group also goes to a
local Humanist Group then they could perhaps be designated the role of
Vegetarian Humanist and if there are more than one in the same  group then a
sub-group might be formed and they can have lunch or something.

Are you going to place news of campaigns on the web site?  Some web sites
like Shelter for instance have a way of sending out info on petitions for
people to sign.

Another thing for the website would be to scan the newsmedia and report
anything important.

I take it you have a list of members' names.  Knowing how many and who and
where is important then if we want to write to the press on something we can
as a group which can be more powerful.  Maybe those of us in Scotland could
form a Scottish group not as a fight, Yorkshire people could maybe form a
Yorkshire group if there are enough of them.  We could be a Federation. The
American is still a little isolated but maybe he/she could join the place
group of his or her racial and family origin (unless he/she is a Native
American of course or if he/she is Chinese)  Well it was just a thought.

Think Humanism has proved rather good but would we at some point also have a
forum on our website so people like myself who have itchy typing fingers can
use that as well.  On it we can get to know other Vegetarian Humanists as
although there will be one or two of us who use Think Humanism I do not
think everyone does even the ones with a computer.

As well as being friendly with the Science group I feel it is a pity that
something didn't quite happen with the Green Group which Jemma had hope to
set up.  Maybe I put the mockers on it but if I can keep out of the way
maybe we could ask Chris Haine to be an advisor on green issues.  (My son
did environmental science at Uni and I said the Green group hadn't got off
the ground as far as I could see and he said well thats quite a green
thing - fair enough I will be turning my electricity off all week to
compensate for using the computer)  but if Chris acts as an advisor it
shouldn't take up too much energy.  If people are going to travel it would
so maybe I should scrub the conference idea.  I suppose it depends on how
many people actually want to have a meal out I am not fussed myself a peanut
butter sandwich is often more to my taste at home.

If you let various people know there may be various local meetings and
conferences members would like to join as vegetarian Humanists.  Maybe the
NHS Spirituality fora for one thing.

Anyway I think that is all for now.

Sonya

We can sort of do that now. We can use sites such
http://www.petitiononline.com/, there are many others, to hold the
petition and then just make a news story on the sites as normal.

This I already do a bit. I use google alerts
(http://www.google.co.uk/alerts?t=3&hl=en_GB) on the search: "religion
vegetarian". It would be great for others to create different searches,
or use other news channels, and add what they find to the site. I'm
happy to give a login to anyone willing to help - its not difficult.

I also have many more generic vegetarian news searches running - I just
lack more specific humanist/evolution etc ones.

I used to offer forums under LVW but they tend not to be used much and
so it wasn't worth the IT maintenance to keeping that going. Plus LVW
runs on a "virtual-server" which it means it does not have a lot of free
memory, so I like to keep what I have as breathing space for the main
sites. May be in the future ...

Stephen